Words for describing TONE and STYLE
Week 1 (abstract –bantering)
1. Abstract: focuses on hypothetical ideas like truth and justice
2. Absurd: illogical
3. Admonitory: warning, voicing chiding
4. Affable (amiable): easy-going; friendly
5. Affected: insincere, artificial, phony, feigned
6. Altruistic: unselfishly concerned for the well being of others
7.Ambiguous: open to more than one interpretation
8. Ambivalent: simultaneously having opposing feelings; uncertain
9. aphoristic: describes concise statements of truth
10. apprehensive: timid, fearful
11. archaic: ancient, old fashioned
12. austere: stern, free from adornment; puritanical
13. baffled: perplexed, bewildered
14. banal: trite, hackneyed, clichéd, and stale
15. bantering: playfully teasing
Week 2 (baroque–chagrined)
16. baroque: elaborate, ornamental and florid in nature
17. bemused: puzzled, confused
18. beneficent/benevolent: well meaning; generous
19. boisterous: suggests a noisiness and turbulence due to high spirits; tumultuous
20. bombastic: overblown, theatrical, pompous, windy phraseology
21. bucolic: formal, about rural areas
22. candid: honest, frank
23. capricious: impulsive, unpredictable
24. cathartic: purging of emotion
25. caustic: bitterly sarcastic or witty
26. cerebral: primarily intellectual
27. chagrined: vexed or unsettled because of disappointment or humiliation
Week 3 (circumspect – convoluted)
28. circumspect: cautious, prudent, careful to consider all circumstances
29. cogent: convincing, reasonable
30. colloquial: informal, vernacular
31. combative: marked by an eagerness to fight
32. conciliatory: appeasing, compatible
33. concise: tight and terse, void of elaboration and extraneous description; get to the point!
34. condemnatory: critical, dooming
35. condescending: treating people as weak or inferior
36. confessional: apologetic and penitent
37. contemplative: marked by or given to steady regard/reflection
38. contemptuous: feeling hatred; scornful
39. convoluted: intricate, complicated and tangled; can be used to describe the style of legal
contracts
Week 4 (cynical–dogmatic)
40. cynical: view that human beings are selfish
41. decadent: self-indulgent
42. denigrating: defaming, belittling
43. deprecating: marked by an expression of disapproval, belittling
44. derisive: expressing or causing scorn/ridicule
45. didactic - from the Greek, literally means "teaching"; intended to instruct
46. digressive: characterized by digressions (turning aside from the main point)
47. disconcerted: characterized by confusion or embarrassment; unsettled
48. discursive: rambling, moving from subject to subject without order
49. dogmatic: stubbornly adhering to unproved beliefs
Week 5 (earnest –exuberant)
50. earnest: grave, important
51. ebullient: intensely enthusiastic
52. effusive: emotionally unrestrained; gushy
53. elated: marked by high spirits, exultant
54. elegiac: expressing sorrow
55. elitist: snobby
56. eloquent: well-spoken; articulate in a vivid and persuasive way
57. elusive: difficult to capture
58. erudite: learned, scholarly
59. esoteric: arcane (hidden)
60. evocative: bringing out an emotional response, arousing
61. exacerbated: marked by making more harsh or severe
62. exuberant: unrestrained, elaborate, flamboyant
Week 6 (exultant–idiomatic)
63. exultant: jubilant, filled with great joy or triumph
64. facetious: playfully humorous
65. fervent: marked by a great intensity of feeling; zealous
66. flippant: lacking proper respect or serious
67. florid: flowery or elaborate
68. fluid: easily flowing
69. foreboding: marked by an inward feeling/conviction regarding the future
70. fractious: quarrelsome; unruly
71. frivolous: of little weight or importance, lacking in seriousness
72. genial: gracious, marked by friendliness
73. idealistic: of, relating to ideals; lofty, noble, impractical
74. idiomatic: characteristic of language of a dialect of people, region, class, etc.
Week 7 (impressionistic–nostalgic)
75. impressionistic: characteristic of language that captures a brief, immediate impression; the
depiction (as in literature) of scene, emotion, or character by details intended to achieve a
vividness or effectiveness more by evoking subjective and sensory impressions than by
recreating an objective reality
76. incendiary: tending to incite, inflammatory
77. incensed: very angry
78. inflammatory: tending to excite anger or disorder
79. insolent: disrespectful, rude
80. irate: angry
81. irreverent: disrespectful to something sacred
82. haughty: arrogant, vainly proud
83. jocular: funny, comical
84. laudatory: giving praise
85. livid: lively anger!
86. mirthful: language that is full of gladness or gaiety, joyous
87. moralistic: concerned about morals/virtues
88. mundane: earthly, commonplace, ordinary
89. nostalgic: characteristic of longing for the past
Week 8 (objective – pompous)
90. objective: impartial; uninfluenced by personal feelings or prejudices
91. obscure: relatively unknown; indistinct
92. ominous: menacing, threatening, foreboding
93. ornamental: adorned, decorated, fancy
94. ornate: elaborately decorated
95. paradoxical- a statement that appears to be self-contradictory or opposed to common sense
but upon closer inspection contains some degree of truth or validity
96. patronizing: condescending
97. pedantic - an adjective that describes words, phrases, or general tone that is overly scholarly,
academic, or bookish
98. penitent: expressing remorse for one’s misdeeds; remorseful
99. philosophical: sensibly composed or calm; characteristic of a philosopher
100. pious: reverent; respectful to what is sacred or moral
101. placid: calm
102. poignant: profoundly moving; touching
103. polemic: relating to disputes and controversy
104. pompous: arrogant
Week 9 (portentous–sanguine)
105. portentous: ominous; also pompous or self-important
106. pragmatic: practical
107. pretentious: haughty
108. profound: marked by intellectual depth; deeply felt
109. prosaic: unimaginative, dull
110. prurient: cheap, coarse, indecent
111. Puritanical: austerity, extreme rigidity
112. regal: of, like or fit for a monarch; splendid
113. reproachful: marked by shame, disgrace
114. sanguine: confident, optimistic; ruddy (this is where the “blood” origin comes in)
Week 10 (sarcastic–superficial)
115. sarcastic: from the Greek for "to tear flesh," involves bitter, caustic language that is meant
to hurt or ridicule someone or something
116. sardonic: disdainfully or ironically humorous; harsh, bitter or caustic
117. scathing: harsh or caustic
118. sensuous: plays on readers' senses; relating to the senses
119. sentimental: overly emotional
120. smug: annoyingly self-satisfied
121. sober: serious, reasonable
122. solemn: sacred, formal, serious
123. staid: unemotional; serious
124. stark: desolate, dreary, grim
125. strident: harsh-sounding, shrill
126. stoic: indifferent to pleasure or pain; impassive
127. subjective: instinctive, emotional, subject to personal feelings/prejudices
128. succinct: clear and brief; terse
129. superficial: concerned only with what is on the surface; shallow
Week 11 (superfluous–wrathful)
130. superfluous: extra, unnecessary
131. surrealistic: absurd, the opposite of realistic
132. tactful: relating to something carefully stated so as not to offend
133. terse: concise, succinct
134. trite: not fresh or original, hackneyed
135. tumultuous: noisily confusing, uproarious
136. urbane: cosmopolitan, civilized
137. vexed: frustrated
138. wary: on guard, cautious
139. whimsical: unpredictable and flighty, but also playful and amusing
140. wistful: showing or expressing vague yearnings
141. witty: intellectually amusing language that surprises and delights
142. wrathful: intensely angry, furious, enraged